"South Park" brilliance

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A South Park episode I happened to catch last night called "Make Love, Not Warcraft" was laugh-out-loud funny and flat-out brilliant. The site says it's been nominated for a primetime Emmy, which is no surprise. This is one of the most perceptive and subversive takes on the psychology and emotional babycake lives of hard-core gamers I've ever seen. I don't laugh out loud all that much, but I did last night.

comment #1

JVD says ...

That episode deserves an Emmy and a Peabody for the first glimpse of the slovenly, pimpled gamer who's life has been reduced to eating potato chips and playing the game non-stop in the hope of ruining the fun for others. It's perfect. Just a sad man sitting alone in his basement pissing on a fictional world.

comment #2

Howlingman says ...

And I will stay above the impending fray and NOT comment on his similarity to several who frequent a particular film website's message board.

comment #3

Wrecktum says ...

It's a great episode, but in reality there's no way to advance your level by continuously killing level 1 boar in WoW; a serious gaffe that I couldn't look past.

comment #4

Ian Sinclair says ...

That was extremely funny yet also surprisingly warm, as both Parker and Stone are themselves avid WOW players.

comment #5

Aladdin Sane says ...

It's fiction Wrecktum...or did you miss that memo?

comment #6

Josh Massey says ...

Wrecktum: In the future, that's a comment you might want to type, but stop short of actually pressing "post."

And yes, that was one of the top three "South Park" episodes ever.

comment #7

JVD says ...

The last half-season of South Park was a particularly strong run.

In addition to the Warcraft episode, there were several high thread count entries, including: the Hillary Clinton/24 parody where the nuke is planted deep inside her snizz, the take on 300 where Mr. Garrison defends the lesbian bar, the Easter bunny is the real head of the Catholic church episode and the homeless spoof of Dawn of the Dead where they transport all of South Park's homeless population to Santa Monica.

That kind of run makes you hopeful that Trey and Matt will maket the best out of their recent Paramount deal.

comment #8

jackkerouac says ...

Jeff, I don't get it - you're a fan of 'South Park' but not 'The Simpsons'? Both are animated series with the same sort of irreverant humor that takes shots at everything from religion to celebrity. One big difference, however, is that the guys who produce 'South Park' are known conservatives while 'The Simpson's' Matt Groening and team lean toward the left.

comment #9

Ogami Itto says ...

Wells: Have you seen the infamous Tom Cruise/Scientology episode? If so, did you like it?

comment #10

Larry says ...

It probably was the best episode last season.

And the South Park guys aren't conservatives, they're libertarians.

comment #11

Jack Price says ...

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/south_park_still_sick_still_wrong

Before labels start getting tossed around aimlessly, read this. (It's incredibly entertaining to boot)

comment #12

frankbooth says ...

I bet the Cartman fat jokes inspired the out-loudest laughter. That Cartman...he's fat!

Aren't libertarians just pot-smoking, agnostic conservatives who realize who realize how uncool "Republican" sounds, but still untimately wanna get out of paying their taxes above all else? If it votes Republican, it's a Republican.

Five...four...three...

Disclaimer: the above comments are not intended to be construed as a personal attack on any persons, places or institutions, except for the obvious ones.

comment #13

115thDreamer says ...

It's worth it just for Cartman's mom bringing down the bed pan for his "bathroom break". Jeff, you should also seek out the "Christian Rock Hard" episode, where Cartman starts a Christian rock band in order to make money so he can win a bet w/ Kyle. It's also evilly funny...he just takes existing love songs and changes "baby" to "Jesus".....or adds "Jesus" TO "baby". And his bandmates are Token and Butters....trust me, seek this one out.

comment #14

D.Z. says ...

jack: "Jeff, I don't get it - you're a fan of 'South Park' but not 'The Simpsons'? Both are animated series with the same sort of irreverant humor that takes shots at everything from religion to celebrity."

The difference is that the Simpsons pussies out on its biting satire, and starts gets preachy near the end of each episode.

"One big difference, however, is that the guys who produce 'South Park' are known conservatives while 'The Simpson's' Matt Groening and team lean toward the left."

Yes, that's why the Simpsons movie trashes Greenpeace, while the South Park guys make fun of religion. BTW, despite the so-called Republicans who claim to take after their show, Trey and Matt aren't really of any political affiliation.

frank: "Aren't libertarians just pot-smoking, agnostic conservatives who realize who realize how uncool "Republican" sounds, but still untimately wanna get out of paying their taxes above all else? If it votes Republican, it's a Republican."

No, they just don't want their taxes to be wasted on frivolous things like the War on Drugs.

comment #15

Sean says ...

"The difference is that the Simpsons pussies out on its biting satire, and starts gets preachy near the end of each episode."

Whereas 'South Park' can get preachy at any moment?

"Yes, that's why the Simpsons movie trashes Greenpeace, while the South Park guys make fun of religion."

Trey Parker and Matt Stone have both gone on record saying global warming is a myth.

comment #16

D.Z. says ...

Sean: "Whereas 'South Park' can get preachy at any moment?"

While "South Park" tends to engage in that habit, too, it doesn't make you feel like you have to agree with the views expressed on the show; nor does it make you feel like you're watching a "very special" episode when you listen to the comments. And the white trash aren't automatically redeemed
because of their conservative views, just because the hippies go overboard. On "The Simpsons", Lisa is often ridiculed for being liberal and smart, while everyone else is glorified for being self-destructive.

"Trey Parker and Matt Stone have both gone on record saying global warming is a myth."

Source?

comment #17

BurmaShave says ...

"Lisa is often ridiculed for being liberal and smart, while everyone else is glorified for being self-destructive."

D.Z. do you even understand what satire is?

I will say in South Park's defense it never gets preachy, but it does preach when necessary, such as its beautiful smackdowns of Jon Edwards (The guy who claims to talk to the dead, not the Presidential candidate) or Scientology. Pound for pound, South Park has probably been the better show for the time they'e been contemporary, but it will never match the heights of the early Simpsons.

Also, no one believes global warming is a myth. Many of us just take issue with Al Gore's distortion of it.

comment #18

dp4m says ...

No joke, our raid had to stop for 30 minuts because the episode came on mid-raid and we figured we'd all be watching it. Yes, I realize the irony and sadness of that...

comment #19

christian says ...

as somebody who's been watching trey and matt since the first time somebody passed me that first south park short in the mid 90's, i've always found them half brilliant, half idiotic.

the brilliance comes from skewering sacred cows, the idiocy comes from the never-ending stream of shit and blood jokes to make the bitter pill of satire easier for the lo-brow kids to wallow in.

they're not as clever as they seem to thik they are. ooo, attacking dirty hippies! i don't think i've ever seen that before! but their wal-mart episode was fairly incredible.

THE SIMPSONS is better. and there's no reason for jeff to praise SP and bag homer and company.

comment #20

christian says ...

"no one believes global warming is a myth."

clearly you don't listen to talk radio.

comment #21

D.Z. says ...

Burma: "D.Z. do you even understand what satire is?"

Yes, I do, and The Simpsons has long been disqualified from that label.

christian: "THE SIMPSONS is better."

Was better, you mean...

comment #22

Sean says ...

D.Z.:

"Yes, that's why the Simpsons movie trashes Greenpeace,"

This is an out-and-out lie. The Simpsons movies says that environmental concerns are important, and mocks the idea of running the EPA the way that you would run a corporation.

Gee, you're dumb.

As for a source on Parker & Stone's beliefs on global warming, would you accept the multiple episodes in which they've expressed it? Such as "Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow" (where a character says that geologists say that global warming isn't really happening)? Or "Manbearbig" where they say that Al Gore has entirely invented a problem in order to come off as a hero? They even threw in a dig at global warming in the episode with the time travelers from the future, "Goobacks", I believe it's called.

Anyway, if you can't watch the show and pick up on exactly what they believe, you should watch the commentary on 'Behind the Blow'; they explicitly say what they think about global warming.

comment #23

D.Z. says ...

Sean:

"This is an out-and-out lie."

From http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070705/film_nm/simpsons_dc
:

>Series writer Al Jean agreed that there were big >themes in the film, particularly the environment, >but that the movie's makers did not obviously >take sides.

>"They are big themes, especially the >environmental theme, but we always like to >approach it from both sides, so later in the film >when Lisa's giving a lecture about the pollution, >the label of the lecture is 'An Irritating >Truth'."

"As for a source on Parker & Stone's beliefs on global warming, would you accept the multiple episodes in which they've expressed it? Such as "Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow" (where a character says that geologists say that global warming isn't really happening)? Or "Manbearbig" where they say that Al Gore has entirely invented a problem in order to come off as a hero? They even threw in a dig at global warming in the episode with the time travelers from the future, "Goobacks", I believe it's called."

No, because that's the show, and not necessarily a reflection of their own views, or they wouldn't even bother hiring women and black voice actors for certain parts.

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